Legal Question in Insurance Law in Maryland
Personal Liability
My 17 year old daughter was involved in a non injury accident the other night where she ran a red light and struck another vehicle. The other vehicle sustained damage to the passenger side door. No one involved was hurt and recieved no medical care at the sceen. My question is, can the other person sue us personaly outside of our insurance coverage for any kind of damages?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Personal Liability
The other part(ies) can sue your daughter and possibly may sue her parents.
This suit could be brought outside of insurance. You could then invoke your
insurance coverage and your insurer would then have an obligation to defend
you and possibly your daughter. Their defense would be up to the amount of your policy
coverage.
Whether they would defend your daughter depends on various factors, one
being whether she was listed as a driver on the policy. Please take note that they insurance
company is legally required to defend ONLY UP TO POLICY LIMITS. If your daughter is legally found to be an "agent" of the
insured (in this case one or both parents) and damages exceed policy limits, then any judgment may
become the responsibility of one or both parents.
If your daughter has a policy then the claim could go through her policy. This, in and of itself, does not
eliminate the potential for an agency relationship which could result in an excess judgment becoming a legal responsibility
of one or both parents. Again, the insurance company would be required to defend up to the limits of her policy. If no agency
relationship legally exists, then your daughter could be legally responsible for any excess judgment.
An excess judgment is one where the amount exceeds the amount of insurance coverage available.
Instead of insurance, you can settle the case privately. This has an advantage of not adversely impacting
your insurance premium(s). This course of action is not advised unless you have an attorney.
Property damage is the obvious claim. Medical claims may or may not follow. Just because no person
went to the hospital do not conclude that no personal injury occurred.
There are other important aspects of this matter which you should speak to an attorney about.
Joe Holthaus
(410) 799-9002
Related Questions & Answers
-
Damage to company owned vehicle while working A company-owned vehicle was damaged... Asked 7/20/04, 12:28 pm in United States Maryland Insurance Law
-
Rights After contractor damaged property Last July we had a new air conditioner... Asked 5/10/04, 9:11 pm in United States Maryland Insurance Law
-
Accident caused by my seventeen year son that does live in my housebut had permi An... Asked 3/03/04, 11:00 am in United States Maryland Insurance Law
-
Broken Pipe Water Damage to owners below I have a condo and a water pipe broke... Asked 2/22/04, 12:58 am in United States Maryland Insurance Law